Next stop: reliability

Consumer electronics manufacturers are enjoying a market not unlike the post-WWII car boom. People have had cash (maybe not so much now), and are itching to buy crap they can't even operate properly. In the past couple of weeks I've cussed more crappy gear than I did for the entirety of the 80's and believe you me, we had GADGETS back then. Gadgets that'd curl your granny's toes!

But now in our schlockaday world, led by bloggers obsessing over features instead of quality, we have too many choices of shit to choose from and very few companies making quality. Why should they? The bean counters say it won't sell. And yet... there goes Apple, posting record profits every quarter. And it ain't just because of their damn marketing! They make products that a) Work and b) Keep working past the 90-day warranty.

So, Consumer Electronics Morans: make shit that doesn't break. Then you win. Seriously, the next-next generation of "stuff" needs to be made from materials that defy breakage, defy mangling, that self-heal or give proper warning when about to fail, etc. Oh, and make things "just work" when you plug them in! Not so hard, is it? Yet nearly every company fails at this.

Pity. Apple is beating you all with an ugly stick and you just won't learn your lesson.

Passing the "spouse test"

I usually stop by Flickr just before I go to bed. Perhaps because I'm a visual learner, or perhaps because I like to see the slices of life my friends and acquaintances leave lying around, but it calms me. Tonight I saw a photo of a Kindle from Scott.

When the Kindle arrived late last year to much ado I just couldn't get excited. My main beef remains: cost. But who am I to complain about cost? Hell, I'm a Mac-using Apple-breathing unabashed fanboy par excellence (even if I can't afford the latest gear, I do lust after it). It only makes sense that the Kindle will come down in cost. So I can't exactly pooh-pooh the darn thing on that one criteria.

In fact, I want the Kindle to succeed, but my fear, shared by many sharp gadget-loving folk, is that the features are too esoteric for the mass market. My wife, albeit quite above average, is such a consumer. But when I extolled the virtues of the Kindle, cleverly avoiding the issue of cost, she was intrigued.

For example, I explained the e-ink contrast ratio. I described the cellular modem. I detailed how books, magazines, and even websites can be loaded onto the thing... And now she's really intrigued. The Kindle passed what I consider to be a foolproof mass market test: my wife.

So Amazon, you have just a few months to knock about 50% of the cost off that damn thing before we'll even consider it. Just so you know.